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Allagash - Churchill Dam to Michaud Farm

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Woonsocket, RI
We had a great trip last week on the Allagash. We did the section from Churchill Dam to Michaud Farm with a day to explore the lakes. The weather was great - sunny days and chilly nights making for misty mornings on the water. Water level was a little low, so we spent a lot of time dodging rocks and wading the boats through the shallows. Quite a few groups were out on the river, but there are so many nice campsites that wasn’t an issue. The stars at night were amazing. Group meals cooked on the fire – everything was delicious.

You can see the pictures here:

Read the full trip report here:

The main challenge on this trip was getting out. I had two blown tires on my Subaru Forester. One on the way in, which I changed with a full-size spare. The second on the way out, which I had to replace with the donut. We drove 40-miles down dirt logging roads at 10-miles per hour hoping the donut would last. It did, but by then it was too late to get the tire fixed. We ran the donut another 100-miles on the highway to get to a friend’s house in Wiscasset. The "little donut that could" pulled us through. I was able to get a new tire on Sunday morning, and headed home.

In hindsight, I shouldn’t have been driving my SUV on those dirt roads without better tires - probably not at all. Most of the trucks up there are using heavy 10 ply ATV tires, which you can’t even get for an SUV. We were lucky this time, but next time we will get a shuttle in and out.
 
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Great pictures with captions, looks like a nice crew with some great menu ideas. I was up there a few days ago with a slide in truck camper, fortunately my new 10 ply’s held up well, the roads had a lot of loose sharp edged shale.
Thanks for sharing your trip.
 
my new 10 ply’s held up well, the roads had a lot of loose sharp edged shale.
Thanks for sharing your trip.
As I was changing my second flat tire of the trip, a lady in a big truck stopped and asked if we needed help or needed to get a message to someone. I told her we were fine, that our paddling partners in a truck would be back as soon as they noticed we weren't behind them. She looked at my tires and said the same thing - "you really need 10 ply tires out here - lots of shale that eats up tires". She didn't say it, but I knew what she was thinking - "you dummies don't belong in here with that vehicle". She was right.

Toughest tires I could find for my Subaru Forester were 4 ply. The guy at the tire store up in ME said you could get 6 ply, but I couldn't find them. Doesn't matter. We'll just shuttle in and out from now on.

Nice campsites off the road there - didn't realize that people drive in to camp.
 
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Wow great pictures. I was up there also 10-13 Sep. I carry a full load of tire repair tools and got lucky with no flats this time.
 
I had planned to canoe the Allagash River from Churchill Dam to Allagash Village, starting on September 30th. However, with the flow at Allagash Village hovering around 300 cfs, and following input from my transporter and a bulletin I got from Maine State Parks, I switched to a lake-centered trip. I enjoyed four great days between Poland Pond and Allagash Lake, both of which were wonderful (trip report coming). I hope to do the river next spring.

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Allagash River in Allagash Village on October 7th (flow was about 290 cfs).

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Saint John River/Allagash River confluence in Allagash Village on October 7.
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